gleason



Unirrnn STATES PATENT Enron.

GEORGE H. WELLS AND HOMER A; GLEASON, OF HAMPSHIRE, ILLINOIS.

WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 608,942, dated August 9, 1898. Application filed August 31, 1897- Serial No. 650,124. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE H.WELLs and HOMER A. GLEASON, citizens of the United States, residing at Hampshire, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wrenches; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our present invention relates to improvements in wrenches, and has for its object to provide means for readily accomplishing the adjustment of the movable jaw with respect to the fixed jaw and to utilize the locking-lever, which is designed to accomplish this adjustment, as one jaw of a plier, and also to so form the handle of said lever as to permit its use as a screw-driver in addition to the function which it is ordinarily designed to perform.

To the accomplishment of these and other objects subordinate thereto our invention consists in providing a handle having a central longitudinal recess with a fixed jaw at its extremity and with a movable shank designed to be received within the handle and to carry a movable jaw beyond the fixed jaw, and, further, in the provision of a lockinglever pivoted upon the fixed jaw and provided with teeth designed to engage correlative teeth upon the shank of the movable jaw and with a nose designed to constitute one jaw of a plier and with a sharpened extremity which may be employed, when the locking-leveris out of engagement with the shank, as a screw-driver.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of our wrench complete. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the subject-matter of Fig. 1, showing the locking-lever moved out of operative relation with the shank. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the locking-lever, look ing toward its inner. face.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, 1 indicates the fixed jaw of our wrench, provided with a shank-aperture 2 and with a handle 3, provided with a central longitudinal shank socket or opening 4, within which is designed to move the shank 5 of a movable jaw 6, secured-to the extremity of the shank 5 beyond the fixed jaw.

Z indicates a series of transverse teeth upon one side face of the shank 5, designed to 00 operate with similar teeth 8, carried upon the inner face of a locking-lever 9, pivoted, as at 10, upon the fixed jaw in line with the center of the shank 5. The locking-lever 9 is provided upon one side, substantially in line with its pivot, with a plier-nose 11, designed, in conjunction with the contiguous face 12 of the fixed head, to constitute a plier, the extremity of the locking-lever being sharpened, as indicated at 13, to permit the use of said lever as a screw-driver when it is turned out of relation with the shank, as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

It will be observed that the cooperating teeth upon the shank and lever are disposed substantially, but not quite, concentric with the pivot of the locking-lever, as it will be observed that the engagement of said teeth iseffected by the swinging of said lever and the lateral disengagement of the teeth as distinguished from the ordinary method of operating ratchet-locking mechanism usually employed in connection with wrenches.

1d indicates a suitable recess in the side of the handle designed to permit the movement of the teeth upon the lever and their engagement with the teeth upon the shank.

In practice the locking-lever is provided with a thin head designed to rest upon a similar bearing-head formed upon the handle immediately below the fixed jaw, the purpose of which is to afiord an effective bearing for the locking-lever and to permit the plier-nose thereof to project below the side face of the wrench and to come in contact with the contiguous face of the fixed jaw.

By the employment of the construction ill ustrated and described it will be observed that We have produced a wrench which may be readily adjusted to a nut or other element of any desired size and that when so adjusted the parts may be secured in their adjusted positions by swinging the locking-lever into the plane of the handle and causing the correlative teeth carried bythe shank and lever to engage in a manner to urge the movable jaw firmly against the object, and, further,

that the peculiar form of locking-lever enables the device to be employed as an ordinary plier or as a screw-driver or cold-chisel when the occasion presents.

While the present embodiment of our invention appears at this time to be preferable, we do not desire to limit ourselves to the details of construction herein shown and de scribed, but reserve the right to change, modify, or vary them at will within the scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In awrench, the combination with a fixed jaw and handle, of a movable jaw and shank longitudinally movable within the handle and provided upon its side face with transverse teeth, and a locking-lever pivoted to the side of the wrench and provided upon its inner face with transverse teeth designed to engage the teeth upon the wrench, and with a pliernose designed to cooperate with the contiguous face of the fixed jaw, substantially as specified.

2. In a wrench, the combination with a fixed jaw and handle, of a movable jaw and a toothed shank designed to move longitudinally within the handle, a locking-lever pivoted to the side of the wrench and provided with a laterally-proj ectin g plier-n ose and having its end sharpened to constitute a screwdriver, and cooperating mechanism carried upon the contiguous faces of the shank and locking-lever, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. H. WELLS. HOMER A. GLEASON.

Witnesses:

E. L. YOUNG, JNo. J. WEAVER. 

